From left: Seasonal Wildlife Biologist Jordan Smith stuns fish as they are collected by Open Space Tech Jeff Pechacek in the St. Vrain River near Hygiene on Aug. 28, 2018. Boulder County is conducting research into effects of flood on wildlife.

Boulder County biologists studying Preble’s meadow jumping mouse and fish populations along the St. Vrain Creek have been encouraged this summer by signs of species rejuvenating since their habitats were altered by the 2013 flood.

Preble’s mouse researchers hesitate to say the flood caused the mammal’s decline in prevalence along the South Boulder Creek and its seeming disappearance from the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge over the last five years. But flood recovery restoration work by local governments along the St. Vrain — especially west of Longmont, downstream from Lyons — has created conditions conducive to a comeback for the Preble’s mouse.

Restoration efforts also have been conducive to bolstering populations of certain “transition zone” fish that need shady habitat and water temperatures between the colder sections of stream at higher elevations and the warmer sections through Longmont and east of the city.

More in Colorado News

An 18-year-old from Monument who damaged nearly $100,000 worth of art at the Denver Art Museum pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, a class four felony, in a Denver courtroom on Thursday, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Longmont Mayor Brian Bagley clipped a cyclist and sent him to the hospital with minor injuries earlier this month but was not cited in the crash, according to police -- a decision later upheld by the Boulder County District Attorney's Office.